Prosecution Awaits TDS Defaulters

The department's Central Processing Centre-Tax Deducted at Source (CPC-TDS) based in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh has been instructed to inform and timely update the taxman about defaulters under this category, which is witnessing a 50 per cent slump in growth this time as compared to the last financial year.

According to the procedures, any default of delayed TDS payment above Rs 1 lakh is mandatorily taken up for prosecution, the said data centre has been re-instructed by CBDT to "generate a list of non-filers of TDS statement within one month of the due date and communicate it to the Assessing Officer (TDS) with a copy to the I-T Commissioner of TDS." "CBDT has now asked CPC and the I-T department to scrupulously adhere to these guidelines and even prepare an advance plan for checking default in this regard as TDS is an important category of taxes under the overall direct tax kitty of the central government.

A slow growth rate has been seen in this category recently but things will shore up," a senior I-T officer said. According to latest data, the growth in TDS collections is less by 50 per cent this time as compared to the last period. In the 2013-14 fiscal, the growth under this head was 16.73 per cent while in the current fiscal of 2014-15 the growth percentage is just 7.84 per cent.